They Can't Stay Apart, Part III
by livingbetweenpages
Summary: First two parts are together in a separate story. Still Percy Jackson fam and Carter, but the story continues.
1. Ch1 - Things Are Still Happening

Synopsis of parts I and II

Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Nico, Will, Frank, Hazel, Leo, and Calypso are living in the mortal world. Due to logistics and common sense, they are all in one house. Annabeth (World History and Percy (P.E.) are teaching at the local high school when a monster attacks, seemingly one of the students.

SPOILER: There end up being three students and Percy and Annabeth foster the last one. Oh, they still are.

_Let me know if you are still into the story! I still can't let go of it, it's too much fun._

* * *

"Hey, Will," Percy catches up to his friend, crunching fall leaves under his sneakers, "I didn't see Calypso this morning. How is she doing?"

He shrugs, sheepish, "She seems to be doing well, all things considered. Magical obstetrics isn't exactly my area of expertise, so I might be more nervous than she is."

Buses are starting to unload, officially starting the day.

"I'm sure everything will be fine. Oh, and, have you seen Annabeth?"

Will raises his eyebrows in a smirk, "Is there anything I should know?"

Blood drains from his face, "No. No connection there, nothing to talk about," Percy insists. "Just tell her to find me, okay?"

"Whatever you say, man."

**If I ever say "the end" again, it's safe to assume I'm lying.**

"Get out of here, Trevor!"

Turning the corner towards their locker, Carter hides in the crowd at the sight of the boy. Their friend, Sophia is trying to shoo him away from their lockers, but he isn't budging.

They edges closer, wanting so badly to help their friend. _I'm the reason they're here._

Trevor puts his hand on the row of lockers, leaning in with a taunt, "Come on, Sophia, wouldn't you rather go out with a real man, instead of whatever your friend is?"

_There's my entrance, I guess._

"Trust me, if I wanted a real man, I sure as hell wouldn't be coming to you."

Carter storms up to Trevor, sick of his antics. He has been harassing them and Sophia for weeks, but Annabeth keeps telling Carter to keep their cool.

Not today.

Carter pulls him by the shirt and slams him back against the lockers. "I'm only going to say this once." Trevor's laughter dies down the longer Carter stares at him. "If you bother me or my friend again or, gods, dare touch her, I will," a whisper only he can hear, "beat you until you have bones outside of your body and then I will cut off your tongue and make you eat it. Got it?"

They drop him on the ground, having slowly been lifting him against the lockers. Hee falls, trips, and then starts running down the hall.

"Freak!" He yells. His friends run off with him, copying his disgust.

Carter sighs and slides off their backpack. "I don't think he will bother us again."

**I think she's right.**

Students are starting to file in, but Annabeth is nowhere to be found. Nico is trying to stay calm but keeps looking at the clock as if it will be any different this time.

Annabeth asked him to come in to aid her lecture on some Italian history, but that will be hard to do if she doesn't show up.

_Come on,_ Nico thinks,_ hurry up._

Meanwhile, across the school, Will answers his phone, "You can't call me at work unless it's an emergency."

"It is!" Nico forces his volume down. "She's not here!"

"Who isn't where?"

"Annabeth! I'm at the school, so technically since I'm at the place where you work, it doesn't count."

The day is just getting started. Just because he's an Apollo kid, doesn't mean he likes the morning.

He sighs, "Does everyone worry about me this much when I'm sick?" Nico starts to protest.

"Yeah, whatever. No, I don't know if she's sick. Why are you here?"

"She begged me to help with a section on Ancient Rome."

"How come you are the expert?"

"Focus! What do I do? There are students in here."

True to their form, they were settling in checking out who they thought their substitute teacher was.

"I'll call Percy," Will says, and then, "After I get someone to cover that class ASAP."

After getting hung up, Nico keeps his phone to his face. _If I don't put my phone down_, he thinks_, maybe it won't start._

**Poor Nico. High school wasn't his best time, especially considering his mother died and he was brainwashed the entirety of the time he was in an actual school.**

Percy spends the morning trying to call Annabeth. He doesn't have any classes until second block, so he just keeps calling.

**It's not like he has other things to do (he does).**

"Where are you? Call me back, I'm freaking out! Oh, it's Percy by the way." Voicemail #27.

He would have made more, but that was the last one he got before the phone said her mailbox was full.

Something was wrong, he just knew it. He already called Piper, but she just called him paranoid.

His heart almost gives out when the phone rang.

It wasn't Annabeth. "Percy? Listen, I know you don't usually do this, but I need you to cover a class this morning. Just make sure they don't kill each other."

"Fine, uh, what classroom?"

He pauses, "Annabeth's," Will says, "Nico is alone in there right now and scared stupid."

"Well, where is she?"

Will needed Percy to calm down, but as long as Annabeth's safety was in question, he would never. There are rules and there can't be a classroom functionally unsupervised, sorry Nico.

"She's okay, I promise. Just, go watch her class."

**So far, nobody knew where she was.**


	2. Ch2 - Substituting (Badly)

"You can't just say one is better than the other," Nico scoffs.

**Wait. Is he smiling?**

Percy interjects, "Sure, but, I mean, like," he grins, "Greeks are better."

Him and Nico are trying to keep peace in the classroom for the hour. Neither of them has any work to give them or have a clue as of what to do, but their banter is entertaining the kids well enough.

One student raises his hand but doesn't wait to speak. "Didn't they get taken over by the Romans?"

"Slow down there," Percy says, "We aren't talking about that part of it. In terms of art and science and philosophy, the Greeks got the ball rolling. They figured out that the Earth was round and revolved around the sun! And then, people started making stuff up and forgot about that fact for a while…"

"You have to admit, the Romans did a lot, too," Nico says. He doesn't feel like he is on one side or the other, like the other half-bloods. Spending so much time in between makes it feel like it doesn't really matter.

"They just copied everything the Greeks did." Percy turns and leans into Nico's space, "Out everyone, I thought you'd be on my side, with the Greeks. Because of, you know, revolving around the sun and all."

"Shut up, Percy."

"OOOh!"

**What kids don't love this stuff? School can be boring.**

Another student pipes up, "Why are you so into the Ancient Greeks?"

Another, "How do you two know each other again?"

**Those two would have gone on forever if Will didn't burst into the room.**

Already blushing, Nico groans out loud when he appears. "Oh, come on!"

"Guys, we have a problem. Don't freak out, Percy, please don't, it may be nothing." Will lets his hair fall into his face, knowing his expression says it all.

With breaths mixed with fear, Percy stares at him. "Don't say it. You said she was fine. Don't say it."

"Leo heard something."

"As he does."

"We have to go," Will urges.

Nico looks back and forth between Will and Percy, and then at the class. He wants to run, even as he starts to feel more and more stuck in place.

"You have to say it, Will," he says.

"Just-"

"You have to say it."

They teach doctors to say it, whenever a patient dies, they say the word. Denial is strong, so you have to say that they are dead. Metaphors and dancing around the bush leads to confusion and worse things. You have to say they are dead.

**Don't worry! She's not dead, yet. I think.**

A few of the students chime in but are ignored. They feed off of the chaos, no longer in their seats.

"Annabeth is missing."

Student, "As in, Mrs. Chase?"

Percy and Annabeth are known for their fierce loyalty. They are a war on waves and

knowledge in teardrops. Salt and wisdom.

He stays silent for a moment. A silence that never happened other times Annabeth was in trouble.

Finally, he says, "Don't tell Carter."

**Great sentiment really, I could go on about that, but terrible timing.**

"Don't tell Carter what?"

There they are, leaning against the door frame with a smug grin. Percy doesn't waver his stare at them. "Hey, Carter, what are you doing here?"

They care holding their backpack by their side, and it brushes against the floor. Will and Nico have grouped in the corner. For once, the room is silent.

"What are you doing here?" Percy demands.

"This is my class."

"Then why are you so late?"

"I was in the principal's office." Completely nonchalant.

"Why?"

"Eh."

"Carter…"

"For 'threatening another student' or whatever," they use air quotes. "It was nothing."

"You are in so much trouble-" he starts.

"I'm just suspended."

"-when we get home-"

"Do you know who is going to be proud of me?"

"-you are so grounded-"

"Annabeth."

"Oh."


	3. Ch3 - Where's Annabeth?

**If you want a group of people to really get quiet, give them drama. Whisper secrets and drizzle them onto the reaching hands of people desperate for details.**

"Carter, I have to go, but you," Percy pauses, "Stay here. Take the bus home and don't go anywhere else." Satisfied with that terrible answer, knowing he has a room of young humans listening, he walks to the door.

Carter stops him, "What are you going on about? Nico?" They turn to the man in black, knowing he'll cave far before Percy would.

"Nope," Nico backs up, "Don't bring me into this, I don't know anything."

They smile and it's the same look Annabeth gets when she knows she can get something she wants out of you.

"Nico," they coo, "I'm confused, help me out. How would you feel if Will was hurt and nobody told you?."

He looks from Carter to Will to Percy.

**It's not Piper. Stay strong, man.**

"It's probably nothing," he sputters. Percy glares, but can't stop him. "It's about Annabeth!"

Whatever mischievousness was behind Carter's smile disappears. No pause, they storm out the classroom door.

"Carter!"

Percy and Nico chase after them, leaving Will with the kids who brought an avalanche of questions upon him. He was counting down the minutes the substitute would be there.

Percy sees Carter first, shoving things into their backpack from their locker.

"Why do you have a machete?" Percy demands.

"All demigods need a weapon." They tuck it into their backpack like it's made of glass.

"Yeah! But-"

"Annabeth helped me pick it out."

**And we are back to the beginning.**

"Percy," Carter clasps their hands together, "What is going on?"

**Let's go over the facts. They'll figure out that no one had seen Annabeth since morning, and that she wasn't answering her calls or watch. She missed an important class, which is an anomaly alone, and she didn't say anything.**

Percy doesn't get anywhere with trying to repeat the facts to himself until they make sense.

"Okay," he says, "We will call an emergency family meeting and come up with a plan."

They are just walking out of the building when a red-faced Will catches up. "Wait up, you guys!"


End file.
